“No Other Land,” a documentary about the resistance of Palestinian activists against forced displacement and settler expansion in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, won the Millennium Docs Against Gravity grand prize in the main competition. The jury, comprised of the writer of this article Variety critic Murtada Elfadl, Anna Hints, director of “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” and Lauren Greenfield, director of “The Queen of Versailles,” cited its “power in crystallizing grave injustice into a story of friendship and how hope can thrive only when everyone has freedom.”
The filmmakers – the Palestinian and Israeli collective of Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor – could not attend the closing ceremony because of the political situation and the award was accepted on their behalf by the ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Poland. The jury awarded two special mentions, citing the strength of the 12 films in competition. The first to “Sugarcane,...
The filmmakers – the Palestinian and Israeli collective of Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor – could not attend the closing ceremony because of the political situation and the award was accepted on their behalf by the ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Poland. The jury awarded two special mentions, citing the strength of the 12 films in competition. The first to “Sugarcane,...
- 5/23/2024
- by Murtada Elfadl
- Variety Film + TV
The 50th Annual Seattle International Film Festival (Siff) wrapped up on Sunday and announced the winners of the 2024 Golden Space Needle Audience and Juried Competition Awards.
The festival began on May 9 and screened 261 films representing 84 countries with “62% of the feature films were created by first or second-time filmmakers; 43% were created by women or nonbinary filmmakers; 35% of filmmakers identify as a Bipoc director; and nearly 60% are currently without U.S. distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States,” according to Siff.
Siff holds two categories of competition: juried and audience based. Juried competitions include five feature subcategories including the Official Competition, New American Cinema Competition, New Directors Competition, Ibero-American Competition and Documentary Competition. Short film categories include live action, animation and documentary.
In addition, over 32,000 ballots were submitted for the Golden Space Needle Awards (Gsna). Films judged through the GSNAs are selected by audience members through post-screening ballots. The categories include best film,...
The festival began on May 9 and screened 261 films representing 84 countries with “62% of the feature films were created by first or second-time filmmakers; 43% were created by women or nonbinary filmmakers; 35% of filmmakers identify as a Bipoc director; and nearly 60% are currently without U.S. distribution and may not screen commercially in the United States,” according to Siff.
Siff holds two categories of competition: juried and audience based. Juried competitions include five feature subcategories including the Official Competition, New American Cinema Competition, New Directors Competition, Ibero-American Competition and Documentary Competition. Short film categories include live action, animation and documentary.
In addition, over 32,000 ballots were submitted for the Golden Space Needle Awards (Gsna). Films judged through the GSNAs are selected by audience members through post-screening ballots. The categories include best film,...
- 5/19/2024
- by Lexi Carson
- Variety Film + TV
Two films expected to be in the awards hunt as the year progresses will screen in tandem at a special one-night only film festival in Tulsa, Ok.
Sugarcane, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, and Look Into My Eyes, directed by Lana Wilson, will play back to back on Saturday at the inaugural Tulsa Hot Doks. The film festival is a joint undertaking by the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas and the Circle Cinema in Tulsa.
Sugarcane, winner of the directing prize for U.S. documentary at Sundance, “explores the investigation of unmarked graves at an Indian residential school in Canada, unearthing secrets above and below the ground and igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and their descendants.” Among those descendants is NoiseCat himself.
The critically acclaimed Look Into My Eyes held its U.S. premiere at Sundance and international premiere at Cph:dox in Copenhagen.
Sugarcane, directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, and Look Into My Eyes, directed by Lana Wilson, will play back to back on Saturday at the inaugural Tulsa Hot Doks. The film festival is a joint undertaking by the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival in Arkansas and the Circle Cinema in Tulsa.
Sugarcane, winner of the directing prize for U.S. documentary at Sundance, “explores the investigation of unmarked graves at an Indian residential school in Canada, unearthing secrets above and below the ground and igniting a reckoning in the lives of survivors and their descendants.” Among those descendants is NoiseCat himself.
The critically acclaimed Look Into My Eyes held its U.S. premiere at Sundance and international premiere at Cph:dox in Copenhagen.
- 5/18/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The Millennium Docs Against Gravity Festival, taking place in seven cities in Poland from Friday to May 19 and then online from May 21 to July 3, has grown exponentially in the last few years. In fact it is now, as the people behind it proclaim, the largest film festival in Poland.
Artistic director Karol Piekarczyk explains, “There is a culture of watching films and of watching films with subtitles in Poland. There are a lot of arthouse cinemas, in comparison to the U.K. for example. Even in small cities.”
Piekarczyk has worked for the festival for the past seven years and this edition will be his fourth as artistic director. He sees his job as “reminding everyone that our priority is and has always been the audience. However, we are a documentary festival, and whether we like it or not, audiences mainly choose films based on topic. We as programmers focus more on the quality.
Artistic director Karol Piekarczyk explains, “There is a culture of watching films and of watching films with subtitles in Poland. There are a lot of arthouse cinemas, in comparison to the U.K. for example. Even in small cities.”
Piekarczyk has worked for the festival for the past seven years and this edition will be his fourth as artistic director. He sees his job as “reminding everyone that our priority is and has always been the audience. However, we are a documentary festival, and whether we like it or not, audiences mainly choose films based on topic. We as programmers focus more on the quality.
- 5/8/2024
- by Murtada Elfadl
- Variety Film + TV
Updated with amended description of documentary My Sweet Land. Sheffield DocFest, the U.K.’s premiere nonfiction film festival, today revealed the full lineup for its 31st edition running June 12-17. Among the highlights: the world premiere of Tilda Swinton’s feature directorial debut, The Hexagonal Hive and a Mouse in a Maze, co-directed by Bartek Dziadosz.
In the film, premiering in International Competition, Swinton and Dziadosz “travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought – for adults and young people alike.” Swinton previously directed segments in the documentaries The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) and The New Ten Commandments (2008).
‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’
Sheffield 2024 will not lack for star power. In addition to Oscar winner Swinton, Idris Elba and the team behind the upcoming National Geographic Documentary series Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color...
In the film, premiering in International Competition, Swinton and Dziadosz “travel the world to understand what it means to learn, and along the way uncover playful food for thought – for adults and young people alike.” Swinton previously directed segments in the documentaries The Seasons In Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) and The New Ten Commandments (2008).
‘Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color’
Sheffield 2024 will not lack for star power. In addition to Oscar winner Swinton, Idris Elba and the team behind the upcoming National Geographic Documentary series Erased: WW2’s Heroes of Color...
- 5/8/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
The Mammoth Lakes Film Festival revealed its lineup for this year’s festival, taking place from May 22 – 26 at venues across Mammoth Lakes.
The festival will open with the California premiere of director Lucy Lawless’ “Never Look Away,” which follows a CNN combat camerawoman who gets injured and must find the strength to carry on. The closing night features “Black Box Diaries,” directed by Shiori Ito, who investigates her own sexual assault through the film.
A Short Films Program will also be featured at the festival, consisting of 38 narrative shorts, 20 documentary shorts, 10 animation shorts and a program of music videos and a screenplay competition.
The Mlff film lineup is as follows:
North American Narrative Features:
All I’ve Got and Then Some
Tehben Dean and Rasheed Stephens | United States
Atikamekw Suns
Chloé Leriche | Canada
Psykhodrame
Miles Blim | United States
The Last Night in the Life of Death
Isaiah Brody | United States...
The festival will open with the California premiere of director Lucy Lawless’ “Never Look Away,” which follows a CNN combat camerawoman who gets injured and must find the strength to carry on. The closing night features “Black Box Diaries,” directed by Shiori Ito, who investigates her own sexual assault through the film.
A Short Films Program will also be featured at the festival, consisting of 38 narrative shorts, 20 documentary shorts, 10 animation shorts and a program of music videos and a screenplay competition.
The Mlff film lineup is as follows:
North American Narrative Features:
All I’ve Got and Then Some
Tehben Dean and Rasheed Stephens | United States
Atikamekw Suns
Chloé Leriche | Canada
Psykhodrame
Miles Blim | United States
The Last Night in the Life of Death
Isaiah Brody | United States...
- 5/4/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay, Selena Kuznikov, Lexi Carson and Jack Dunn
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The Human Rights Watch Film Festival recently announced it’s closing down, and the future of Hot Docs remains uncertain at best. But there’s some hopeful news for the troubled film festival space: the return of the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.
The longest running nonfiction film festival in the U.S. reemerges May 9, after being dark since the pandemic. The four-day event will showcase documentary films from across the globe, as well as animation, panel discussions, and live performances, all from its home base at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [Scroll for the full program]
Margaret Mead Film Festival
“Mead 2024 gives platform to new voices that inspire fresh conversations about our shared humanity,” noted Jacqueline Handy, director of public programs at the American Museum of Natural History, adding the festival has been “a vibrant part of the Museum landscape since 1977.”
The festival kicks off on Thursday,...
The longest running nonfiction film festival in the U.S. reemerges May 9, after being dark since the pandemic. The four-day event will showcase documentary films from across the globe, as well as animation, panel discussions, and live performances, all from its home base at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. [Scroll for the full program]
Margaret Mead Film Festival
“Mead 2024 gives platform to new voices that inspire fresh conversations about our shared humanity,” noted Jacqueline Handy, director of public programs at the American Museum of Natural History, adding the festival has been “a vibrant part of the Museum landscape since 1977.”
The festival kicks off on Thursday,...
- 5/3/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Sffilm has announced the winners of the juried Golden Gate Awards competition and the Audience Awards at the 67th San Francisco International Film Festival (Sffilm Festival). The awards serve as a launching pad for internationally renowned filmmakers who are early in their careers, and they qualify films under 40 minutes for the Oscars. Past Golden Gate Award winners include Panah Panahi, Reid Davenport, Nadav Lapid, Marlon Riggs, Céline Sciamma, Jia Zhang-ke, Stanley Nelson, and Tasha Van Zandt.
This year, the 2024 Sffilm Festival ran five days from April 24 – 28 rather than its usual sprawling two weeks. The Sffilm board opted to pull back conservatively where others would have gone bigger to keep a more expansive footprint. Altogether they brought in 130 filmmakers this year, an excellent global selection of films despite the calendar disadvantage of being caught between Sundance and Cannes.
The big talk at this year’s Sffilm was the news that San...
This year, the 2024 Sffilm Festival ran five days from April 24 – 28 rather than its usual sprawling two weeks. The Sffilm board opted to pull back conservatively where others would have gone bigger to keep a more expansive footprint. Altogether they brought in 130 filmmakers this year, an excellent global selection of films despite the calendar disadvantage of being caught between Sundance and Cannes.
The big talk at this year’s Sffilm was the news that San...
- 4/30/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio and Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat’s documentary “Sugarcane” garnered the top nonfiction honor at the 26th annual Sarasota Film Festival. About the abuse and death of Indigenous children at a Canadian-based Indian Residential School, the docu premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (Sff), where it picked up the U.S. documentary directing kudo. In February, National Geographic Documentary Films acquired the film.
The doc feature jury made up of producer Wren Arthur, Indiewire’s Christian Blauvelt, NPR’s Eric Deggans, and Doc NYC artistic director Jaie Laplante said in a joint statement that they selected the film for “bravely tackling the legacy of trauma from the abuse of First Nations students at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in British Columbia. The Catholic Church-run school closed decades ago, but the horrors there are still deeply felt by generations across an entire community. The filmmakers do not lose sight...
The doc feature jury made up of producer Wren Arthur, Indiewire’s Christian Blauvelt, NPR’s Eric Deggans, and Doc NYC artistic director Jaie Laplante said in a joint statement that they selected the film for “bravely tackling the legacy of trauma from the abuse of First Nations students at the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School in British Columbia. The Catholic Church-run school closed decades ago, but the horrors there are still deeply felt by generations across an entire community. The filmmakers do not lose sight...
- 4/15/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Following a gala closing night celebration featuring Steve Buscemi and his film “The Listener,” the 2024 Sarasota Film Festival has announced its awards — with several prominent indies taking the top prizes. This 26th edition of the Florida festival celebrating independent film gave the Narrative Feature Jury Prize to Josh Margolin’s Sundance breakout “Thelma,” starring June Squibb and the late Richard Roundtree. “Sugarcane” won the Documentary Feature Jury Prize.
Speaking for the narrative feature jury, filmmaker Alex Hedison, in awarding the prize to “Thelma,” said the group found the movie to celebrate “what Hollywood cinema so infrequently does: age. The extraordinary performances by June Squib and Richard Roundtree are at the center of ‘Thelma,’ surrounded by an excellent supporting cast who serve as a surrogate for the audience in reminding them of the significance of living their best lives with the kind of action and adventure life affords us if we...
Speaking for the narrative feature jury, filmmaker Alex Hedison, in awarding the prize to “Thelma,” said the group found the movie to celebrate “what Hollywood cinema so infrequently does: age. The extraordinary performances by June Squib and Richard Roundtree are at the center of ‘Thelma,’ surrounded by an excellent supporting cast who serve as a surrogate for the audience in reminding them of the significance of living their best lives with the kind of action and adventure life affords us if we...
- 4/15/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
Steve Buscemi’s “The Listener” is heading to the Sarasota Film Festival.
The 26th edition of the Florida fest will feature live and in-person screenings and events that will take place across Sarasota beginning on April 5. The 10-day fest will feature 23 narrative features, 41 documentary features and 81 short films.
Buscemi will be in Sarasota to participate in a Q&a following the screening of “The Listener,” which will serve as the closing night film. About a crisis hotline worker enduring the pressures of her job, the film starring Tessa Thompson made its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in 2022.
Lynn Dow’s “Bull Street,” starring Loretta Devine and Amy Madigan, will open the fest on April 5. The drama centers on a South Carolina small-town lawyer (Malynda Hale) as she faces local politics and an unwavering judge (Madigan) when her estranged father’s family tries to evict her and her grandmother (Devine) from her home.
The 26th edition of the Florida fest will feature live and in-person screenings and events that will take place across Sarasota beginning on April 5. The 10-day fest will feature 23 narrative features, 41 documentary features and 81 short films.
Buscemi will be in Sarasota to participate in a Q&a following the screening of “The Listener,” which will serve as the closing night film. About a crisis hotline worker enduring the pressures of her job, the film starring Tessa Thompson made its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in 2022.
Lynn Dow’s “Bull Street,” starring Loretta Devine and Amy Madigan, will open the fest on April 5. The drama centers on a South Carolina small-town lawyer (Malynda Hale) as she faces local politics and an unwavering judge (Madigan) when her estranged father’s family tries to evict her and her grandmother (Devine) from her home.
- 3/21/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
After a year-long hiatus the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 26th edition, which will take place in Durham, N.C., from April 4-7. The festival will kick things off with “Girls State,” the Apple Original docu that premiered at Sundance earlier this year.
It’s been five years since Full Frame, often referred to as “a filmmaker’s festival,” was held as an in-person event. Full Frame was held entirely online for the 2020–22 festivals due to Covid-19. Then in 2023 the festival was put on hold last year due to financial struggles and leadership turnover at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (Cds), a nonprofit affiliate of the university that puts on the fest. Notably, Cds executive director Opeyemi Olukemi resigned last year. As reported by The Assembly, Olukemi, who took the role in 2021, was criticized as the Cds staff shrank and a bulk of...
It’s been five years since Full Frame, often referred to as “a filmmaker’s festival,” was held as an in-person event. Full Frame was held entirely online for the 2020–22 festivals due to Covid-19. Then in 2023 the festival was put on hold last year due to financial struggles and leadership turnover at Duke’s Center for Documentary Studies (Cds), a nonprofit affiliate of the university that puts on the fest. Notably, Cds executive director Opeyemi Olukemi resigned last year. As reported by The Assembly, Olukemi, who took the role in 2021, was criticized as the Cds staff shrank and a bulk of...
- 3/14/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The 13th annual Sun Valley Film Festival, kicking off Feb. 28, will aim to once again to capture the spirit of storytelling by celebrating poignant films at the Idaho ski resort town.
This year’s festival kicks off with “Ezra,” directed by Tony Goldwyn and starring Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne and Robert De Niro, and concludes March 3 with a screening of “Sugarcane,” a documentary about missing children at a Native residential school that recently won a directing trophy for Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat at Sundance.
The programming team also chose multiple films from first-time feature filmmakers, including Sophia Sabello and Pablo Feldman’s “Edge of Everything,” Annie Baker’s “Janet Planet,” Marc Marriott’s “Tokyo Cowboy,” Caroline Lindy’s “Your Monster,” while the documentary line-up includes Maggie Contreras’ “Maestra” and Lisa D’Apolito’s “Shari & Lamb Chop.”
Panels and starry tributes are planned at the fest, with movies screening at...
This year’s festival kicks off with “Ezra,” directed by Tony Goldwyn and starring Bobby Cannavale, Rose Byrne and Robert De Niro, and concludes March 3 with a screening of “Sugarcane,” a documentary about missing children at a Native residential school that recently won a directing trophy for Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat at Sundance.
The programming team also chose multiple films from first-time feature filmmakers, including Sophia Sabello and Pablo Feldman’s “Edge of Everything,” Annie Baker’s “Janet Planet,” Marc Marriott’s “Tokyo Cowboy,” Caroline Lindy’s “Your Monster,” while the documentary line-up includes Maggie Contreras’ “Maestra” and Lisa D’Apolito’s “Shari & Lamb Chop.”
Panels and starry tributes are planned at the fest, with movies screening at...
- 2/28/2024
- by Nick Clement
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Sugarcane has become the latest big documentary deal out of the Sundance Film Festival.
Nat Geo has snapped up the doc, an investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school which ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.
Deadline understands that the Disney-owned factual brand has struck a deal in the low seven-figures. The doc comes from filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie.
National Geographic Documentary Films will roll out Sugarcane at global festivals throughout the rest of the year and release it in theaters before its streaming debut on Disney+.
It is the latest deal out of Sundance for National Geographic Documentary Films; the company picked up Fire Of Love, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars, out of the festival in 2022 as well as The Territory, which came from director Alex Pritz.
There were numerous documentary deals out of...
Nat Geo has snapped up the doc, an investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school which ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.
Deadline understands that the Disney-owned factual brand has struck a deal in the low seven-figures. The doc comes from filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie.
National Geographic Documentary Films will roll out Sugarcane at global festivals throughout the rest of the year and release it in theaters before its streaming debut on Disney+.
It is the latest deal out of Sundance for National Geographic Documentary Films; the company picked up Fire Of Love, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars, out of the festival in 2022 as well as The Territory, which came from director Alex Pritz.
There were numerous documentary deals out of...
- 2/21/2024
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Meredith Hama-Brown’s feature debut “Seagrass,” starring Ally Maki, will debut in U.S. theaters on Feb. 22, beginning with special screenings with the cast and director.
Q&a’s will be held at New York’s Roxy Cinema and Los Angeles’ Laemmle Royal on Feb. 22 and Las Vegas’ Regal Theatre on Feb. 23. Maki will be in Los Angeles, Hama-Brown and cinematographer Norm Li will be in New York, and actor Chris Pang will be in Las Vegas. The film will also have its U.S. festival premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, screening on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13.
The synopsis for “Seagrass” reads, “Set in the mid 1990’s, a Japanese Canadian woman (Maki) grappling with the recent death of her mother brings her family to a self-development retreat. When her distressed relationship with her husband begins to affect the children’s emotional security, the family is forever changed.”
In addition to Maki and Pang,...
Q&a’s will be held at New York’s Roxy Cinema and Los Angeles’ Laemmle Royal on Feb. 22 and Las Vegas’ Regal Theatre on Feb. 23. Maki will be in Los Angeles, Hama-Brown and cinematographer Norm Li will be in New York, and actor Chris Pang will be in Las Vegas. The film will also have its U.S. festival premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, screening on Feb. 12 and Feb. 13.
The synopsis for “Seagrass” reads, “Set in the mid 1990’s, a Japanese Canadian woman (Maki) grappling with the recent death of her mother brings her family to a self-development retreat. When her distressed relationship with her husband begins to affect the children’s emotional security, the family is forever changed.”
In addition to Maki and Pang,...
- 2/6/2024
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
When the Oscar nominations came out last week, the Best Documentary Feature category contained some bombshells: no recognition for two of the most decorated nonfiction films of the year.
In the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey drill down on the nominations, examining the snubs of American Symphony and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. And they explore why the Academy’s documentary branch, which determines the nominees, went for five internationally themed films, bypassing American-focused stories entirely.
Plus Carey, Deadline’s Documentary Editor, reports from the just-concluded 2024 Sundance Film Festival, talking with Best Director winners Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie of Sugarcane, Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey of the explosive series The Synanon Fix, EP Kerry Washington and two of the main participants in Daughters, Will Ferrell and Harper Steele of Will & Harper, and more.
Daughters, winner of both the Audience Award for U.
In the latest edition of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast, co-hosts John Ridley and Matt Carey drill down on the nominations, examining the snubs of American Symphony and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. And they explore why the Academy’s documentary branch, which determines the nominees, went for five internationally themed films, bypassing American-focused stories entirely.
Plus Carey, Deadline’s Documentary Editor, reports from the just-concluded 2024 Sundance Film Festival, talking with Best Director winners Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie of Sugarcane, Rory Kennedy and Mark Bailey of the explosive series The Synanon Fix, EP Kerry Washington and two of the main participants in Daughters, Will Ferrell and Harper Steele of Will & Harper, and more.
Daughters, winner of both the Audience Award for U.
- 1/31/2024
- by The Deadline Team
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s altogether likely that many non-Indigenous people knew nothing about the abuse and disappearances of Native American children that occurred over decades in residential Indian schools throughout North America until those outages inspired a wrenchingly potent subplot last year for the Taylor Sheridan-produced TV series “1923.” But the truth behind that fact-based fiction is even more shocking, and infuriating, as detailed in “Sugarcane,” the remarkable film that received a well-deserved jury prize for documentary direction at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Co-directors Emily Kassie and Indigenous filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat show restraint and empathy while cataloguing the horrors that were endemic at the now-shuttered St. Joseph’s Mission residential school near the Sugarcane Reservation of Williams Lake in British Columbia. But their disciplined approach to their material actually makes the movie even more effective in its cumulative impact, especially during interviews with survivors of St. Joseph’s — including...
Co-directors Emily Kassie and Indigenous filmmaker Julian Brave NoiseCat show restraint and empathy while cataloguing the horrors that were endemic at the now-shuttered St. Joseph’s Mission residential school near the Sugarcane Reservation of Williams Lake in British Columbia. But their disciplined approach to their material actually makes the movie even more effective in its cumulative impact, especially during interviews with survivors of St. Joseph’s — including...
- 1/31/2024
- by Joe Leydon
- Variety Film + TV
With Sugarcane, filmmakers Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie deliver a multilayered film that invites audiences to confront questions about morality and justice, and to bear witness to the lasting intergenerational trauma of the Williams Lake First Nations (Secwepemc or Shuswap Nation) people stemming from the residential school system that included forced family separation, physical and sexual abuse, and the destruction of First Nation culture and language. Drawing on their backgrounds in activism and journalism — as well as NoiseCat’s own personal connection to the story and community — the filmmakers deftly weave together multiple strands to form this compelling, heartbreaking narrative.
Demonstrating unparalleled humanity, and compassion for the affected First Nation communities in North America, the powerful documentary operates from a place of pure and total empathy. At the same time, NoiseCat and Kassie recognize the resilience of the survivors and their descendants, and their determination to seek answers to long-buried secrets.
Demonstrating unparalleled humanity, and compassion for the affected First Nation communities in North America, the powerful documentary operates from a place of pure and total empathy. At the same time, NoiseCat and Kassie recognize the resilience of the survivors and their descendants, and their determination to seek answers to long-buried secrets.
- 1/29/2024
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
The Sundance Film Festival announced its 2024 winners on January 26, two days before the festival’s end date. The Awards Ceremony took place at The Ray Theater in Park City, Utah. This year marks its 40th annual festival run taking place from January 18 to January 28.
In the Summer, a film director Alessandra Lacorazza, won the top honor, U.S. Grand Jury Prize, starring Lio Mehiel.
Last year, Mehiel told uInterview exclusively about the importance of trans representation.
“Whenever there is an uptick of queer or trans representation in the media, there is an equal and perhaps greater response from the other side … that are looking to suppress trans rights, trans agency [and] queer liberation,” Mehiel told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “While in Hollywood we are seeing trans representation and this film is able to be part of that movement, this film is more important now than ever because even just in Utah,...
In the Summer, a film director Alessandra Lacorazza, won the top honor, U.S. Grand Jury Prize, starring Lio Mehiel.
Last year, Mehiel told uInterview exclusively about the importance of trans representation.
“Whenever there is an uptick of queer or trans representation in the media, there is an equal and perhaps greater response from the other side … that are looking to suppress trans rights, trans agency [and] queer liberation,” Mehiel told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “While in Hollywood we are seeing trans representation and this film is able to be part of that movement, this film is more important now than ever because even just in Utah,...
- 1/27/2024
- by Ann Hoang
- Uinterview
The 40th edition of Sundance proved that despite corporate consolidation, there is still a market for independently made documentaries. While there haven’t been many sales so far, there has been strong buyer interest in two celeb-focused docs — “Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story” and “Will & Harper,” featuring Will Ferrell — and healthy interest in others.
“The market didn’t have a pulse six months ago,” says Submarine Entertainment sales agent Josh Braun, who came to the festival with nine documentaries seeking distribution, including “Daughters,” “Gaucho Gaucho” and “Union.” “So there was a reason to be a little bit fearful coming into Sundance. But now we are feeling a pulse. We are heading in a good direction. The patient still needs some treatment, but we are no longer in a Doa situation.”
While Submarine has not yet closed deals for any of the titles, Braun is optimistic, given the fact a...
“The market didn’t have a pulse six months ago,” says Submarine Entertainment sales agent Josh Braun, who came to the festival with nine documentaries seeking distribution, including “Daughters,” “Gaucho Gaucho” and “Union.” “So there was a reason to be a little bit fearful coming into Sundance. But now we are feeling a pulse. We are heading in a good direction. The patient still needs some treatment, but we are no longer in a Doa situation.”
While Submarine has not yet closed deals for any of the titles, Braun is optimistic, given the fact a...
- 1/27/2024
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators just launched their 2024 world tour, and treated fans to a performance of “Don’t Damn Me,” a Guns N’ Roses song that Gn’R themselves have never played live.
At the tour kickoff on Tuesday (January 23rd) in Mexico City, Slash and company broke out the deep Use Your Illusion I cut with Conspirators bassist Todd Kerns handling lead vocals, as Kennedy took a breather.
Before he rejoined Guns N’ Roses in 2016, Slash was asked in a 2014 interview if he and The Conspirators would ever perform “Don’t Damn Me.” He told the SlashFrance YouTube channel (as transcribed by Ultimate Classic Rock), “There’s just too many words. You know, it’s a cool song and everything. I think even [with] Axl [Rose], we never did it because it was just too many words without a breath, and it just makes it really impossible to do it live.
At the tour kickoff on Tuesday (January 23rd) in Mexico City, Slash and company broke out the deep Use Your Illusion I cut with Conspirators bassist Todd Kerns handling lead vocals, as Kennedy took a breather.
Before he rejoined Guns N’ Roses in 2016, Slash was asked in a 2014 interview if he and The Conspirators would ever perform “Don’t Damn Me.” He told the SlashFrance YouTube channel (as transcribed by Ultimate Classic Rock), “There’s just too many words. You know, it’s a cool song and everything. I think even [with] Axl [Rose], we never did it because it was just too many words without a breath, and it just makes it really impossible to do it live.
- 1/26/2024
- by Anne Erickson
- Consequence - Music
Sundance announced its winners on Friday morning, with Alessandra Lacorazza’s In The Summers took the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and Brendan Bellomo’s Porcelain War the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
- 1/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
Sundance announced its winners on Friday morning, with Alessandra Lacorazza’s In The Summers took the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic and Brendan Bellomo’s Porcelain War the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary.
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind Of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez earned the corresponding world cinema dramatic prize for Sujo.
The pair collaborated as writers on the 2020 World Cinema – Dramatic prize winner Identifying Features directed by Valadez.
The Festival Favorite Award went to Daughters by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, whose film also...
- 1/26/2024
- ScreenDaily
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has announced its winners, with In the Summers taking the Grand Jury prize for U.S. Dramatic Competition and Porcelain War landing the award for U.S. Documentary Competition.
Sujo won the jury prize for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section, and A New Kind of Wilderness won for World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Audience awards went to Sean Wang’s Dìdi (弟弟) in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and Daughters in the U.S. Documentary Competition, with the latter also earning the Festival Favorite Award selected by audiences across all new feature films presented at the fest. Girls Will Be Girls landed the audience award for World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and Ibelin won it in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Elsewhere, the Next innovator award went to Little Death, with Irish rap biopic Kneecap winning the audience award for the Next section.
Sundance CEO Joana Vicente said,...
Sujo won the jury prize for the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section, and A New Kind of Wilderness won for World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Audience awards went to Sean Wang’s Dìdi (弟弟) in the U.S. Dramatic Competition and Daughters in the U.S. Documentary Competition, with the latter also earning the Festival Favorite Award selected by audiences across all new feature films presented at the fest. Girls Will Be Girls landed the audience award for World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and Ibelin won it in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Elsewhere, the Next innovator award went to Little Death, with Irish rap biopic Kneecap winning the audience award for the Next section.
Sundance CEO Joana Vicente said,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The 2024 Sundance Film Festival awards were announced today at The Ray Theatre in Park City, Utah.
See the list of 2024 winners below, and congrats to all the winners.
Festival Favorite Award
Daughters (USA) – Angela Patton and Natalie Rae
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
Directing Award
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance
Suncoast (USA) – Nico Parker
Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble
Dìdi – Sean Wang
Audience Award
Dìdi – Sean Wang
U.S. Documentary Competition
Grand Jury Prize
Porcelain War – Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
Directing Award
Sugarcane – Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie
Special Jury Award for Sound
Gaucho Gaucho (USA, Argentina) – Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
Special Jury Award for The Art of Change
Union (USA) – Stephen Maing and Brett Story
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award
Frida...
See the list of 2024 winners below, and congrats to all the winners.
Festival Favorite Award
Daughters (USA) – Angela Patton and Natalie Rae
U.S. Dramatic Competition
Grand Jury Prize
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
Directing Award
In the Summers (USA) – Alessandra Lacorazza
The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance
Suncoast (USA) – Nico Parker
Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble
Dìdi – Sean Wang
Audience Award
Dìdi – Sean Wang
U.S. Documentary Competition
Grand Jury Prize
Porcelain War – Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev
Directing Award
Sugarcane – Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie
Special Jury Award for Sound
Gaucho Gaucho (USA, Argentina) – Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw
Special Jury Award for The Art of Change
Union (USA) – Stephen Maing and Brett Story
Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award
Frida...
- 1/26/2024
- by Prem
- Talking Films
The Sundance Film Festival welcomed a new class of indie film stars on Friday, handing out its annual awards in Park City, Utah.
Taking the festival’s grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition was “In the Summers” from writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio. The film tells of two daughters who come of age navigating a turbulent but loving father during yearly visits to his home in New Mexico. “Porcelain War” won the U.S. Documentary competition, for its portrait of artists-turned-soldiers in the Ukraine.
Top prizes in the world cinematic category went to “A New Kind of Wilderness” for documentary, the tale of a wild-living family who must return to the modern world after an untimely death; “Sujo” won for narrative feature, about a 4-year-old orphan who may find it impossible to escape a future working for a drug cartel.
Incoming Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez began...
Taking the festival’s grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition was “In the Summers” from writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio. The film tells of two daughters who come of age navigating a turbulent but loving father during yearly visits to his home in New Mexico. “Porcelain War” won the U.S. Documentary competition, for its portrait of artists-turned-soldiers in the Ukraine.
Top prizes in the world cinematic category went to “A New Kind of Wilderness” for documentary, the tale of a wild-living family who must return to the modern world after an untimely death; “Sujo” won for narrative feature, about a 4-year-old orphan who may find it impossible to escape a future working for a drug cartel.
Incoming Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez began...
- 1/26/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
2024 Sundance Film Festival
Through Sunday, one can experience the 2024 Sundance Film Festival from the comfort of their own home, if it’s in the United States. Having seen over 50 titles in the lineup, in terms of films with tickets still available I can highly recommend Good One, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, Black Box Diaries, Ibelin, Kneecap, Didi, Brief History of a Family, Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Sujo, Seeking Mavis Beacon, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Union, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Realm of Satan. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Official Site (through Sunday only)
Amanda (Carolina Cavalli)
Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature doesn’t hit theaters for another few months, but you’d be forgiven if you thought it was actually Amanda, writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly humorous,...
2024 Sundance Film Festival
Through Sunday, one can experience the 2024 Sundance Film Festival from the comfort of their own home, if it’s in the United States. Having seen over 50 titles in the lineup, in terms of films with tickets still available I can highly recommend Good One, Between the Temples, Tendaberry, Black Box Diaries, Ibelin, Kneecap, Didi, Brief History of a Family, Porcelain War, Sugarcane, Sujo, Seeking Mavis Beacon, Skywalkers: A Love Story, Union, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Realm of Satan. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: Official Site (through Sunday only)
Amanda (Carolina Cavalli)
Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature doesn’t hit theaters for another few months, but you’d be forgiven if you thought it was actually Amanda, writer-director Carolina Cavalli’s darkly humorous,...
- 1/26/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Every so often, a film comes along that, as if out of nowhere, leaves an unexpected impression and a need to find a moment to take in all that was witnessed fully; it’s a phenomenon that can come from any genre, any type of project, any filmmaker or subject, from battles in a galaxy far, far away to the intricate life story of a media tycoon. Sometimes, the smallest forms of art end up being the most effective, with “Sugarcane” a perfect example of how to draw in an audience to the film’s powerful message with moments as shocking as any entry into the world of horror.
Continue reading ‘Sugarcane’ Review: A Haunting Journey Into The Horrors Of Indigenous Past [Sundance] at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Sugarcane’ Review: A Haunting Journey Into The Horrors Of Indigenous Past [Sundance] at The Playlist.
- 1/23/2024
- by Brian Farvour
- The Playlist
It’s impossible to overstate the trauma that is explored throughout Sugarcane, Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie’s harrowing documentary on the sins of St. Joseph’s Mission in British Columbia and the Canadian Indian residential school system as a whole. Spurred by the discovery of over 200 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in May 2021, NoiseCat and Kassie speak with investigators and survivors of the schools, one of them Julian Brave NoiseCat’s own father: Ed Archie NoiseCat.
Since the the 19th century, the Canadian government forced Indigenous children to attend boarding schools that were primarily run by the Catholic Church. If the pronounced goal was something like cultural acclimation/assimilation, the price many kids paid was too great to calculate. Widespread allegations of abuse, rape, and torture were largely ignored for generations. Rosalin Sam, a survivor of St. Joseph’s Mission, recounts the circular direction of denied responsibility.
Since the the 19th century, the Canadian government forced Indigenous children to attend boarding schools that were primarily run by the Catholic Church. If the pronounced goal was something like cultural acclimation/assimilation, the price many kids paid was too great to calculate. Widespread allegations of abuse, rape, and torture were largely ignored for generations. Rosalin Sam, a survivor of St. Joseph’s Mission, recounts the circular direction of denied responsibility.
- 1/21/2024
- by Dan Mecca
- The Film Stage
“Sugarcane,” the documentary that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this week, is billed as “an investigation,” but its silences speak louder than its revelations.
The film from directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie is a stunning and brutal look at the lasting trauma of the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, a government-funded institution run by the Catholic Church where indigenous children were sent with the aim of stripping them of the connection to their culture. The abuses that took place at St. Joseph’s and the places around North America like it were innumerable — though much of the evidence of wrongdoing is, devastatingly, lost to time. But as NoiseCat and Kassie’s film shows, the legacy of harm has echoed throughout generations as the survivors reckon with what they saw and endured, keeping some of their experiences, too painful to fully grasp, buried.
NoiseCat and Kassie follow...
The film from directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie is a stunning and brutal look at the lasting trauma of the St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School, a government-funded institution run by the Catholic Church where indigenous children were sent with the aim of stripping them of the connection to their culture. The abuses that took place at St. Joseph’s and the places around North America like it were innumerable — though much of the evidence of wrongdoing is, devastatingly, lost to time. But as NoiseCat and Kassie’s film shows, the legacy of harm has echoed throughout generations as the survivors reckon with what they saw and endured, keeping some of their experiences, too painful to fully grasp, buried.
NoiseCat and Kassie follow...
- 1/21/2024
- by Esther Zuckerman
- Indiewire
Sugarcane, co-directed by journalists Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an investigation into the abuse and missing persons cases at an indigenous residential school and the associated tumult on the nearby Reserve. It is the debut film by NoiseCat, a former policy with personal ties to the community, and the second, after A Girl Named C, for Kassie. Christopher Lamarca served as cinematographer, his second such credit, after Ry Russo-Young’s Nuclear Family. Below, he discusses some of the challenges peculiar to shooting verité films. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
The post “The Biggest Challenge on a Verité Production is Time”: Dp Christopher Lamarca on Sugarcane first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “The Biggest Challenge on a Verité Production is Time”: Dp Christopher Lamarca on Sugarcane first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/20/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Sugarcane, co-directed by journalists Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, is an investigation into the abuse and missing persons cases at an indigenous residential school and the associated tumult on the nearby Reserve. It is the debut film by NoiseCat, a former policy with personal ties to the community, and the second, after A Girl Named C, for Kassie. Christopher Lamarca served as cinematographer, his second such credit, after Ry Russo-Young’s Nuclear Family. Below, he discusses some of the challenges peculiar to shooting verité films. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
The post “The Biggest Challenge on a Verité Production is Time”: Dp Christopher Lamarca on Sugarcane first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “The Biggest Challenge on a Verité Production is Time”: Dp Christopher Lamarca on Sugarcane first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 1/20/2024
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
IllumiNative is bringing its Indigenous House back to the Sundance Film Festival.
Now with a third day of programming, the Main Street gathering spot will run Jan. 19-21 and feature music, art and food celebrating Native culture. Talks include a fireside chat with director Sydney Freeland (Navajo), whose latest project is Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series Echo, as well as discussions with Reservation Dogs writer-director-producer Tazbah Chavez (Dinè/Nüümü/San Carlos Apache) and filmmaker-activist Julian Brave NoiseCat (Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen/Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie). The latter, whose U.S. documentary competition entry Sugarcane investigates abuse and missing children at an Indian reservation school, will discuss healing and justice amid the history of Indigenous boarding schools in North America.
“Last year, we saw the positive impact of Native representation and Native-led content, and while we recognize that there’s still progress to be made, this year’s...
Now with a third day of programming, the Main Street gathering spot will run Jan. 19-21 and feature music, art and food celebrating Native culture. Talks include a fireside chat with director Sydney Freeland (Navajo), whose latest project is Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series Echo, as well as discussions with Reservation Dogs writer-director-producer Tazbah Chavez (Dinè/Nüümü/San Carlos Apache) and filmmaker-activist Julian Brave NoiseCat (Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen/Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie). The latter, whose U.S. documentary competition entry Sugarcane investigates abuse and missing children at an Indian reservation school, will discuss healing and justice amid the history of Indigenous boarding schools in North America.
“Last year, we saw the positive impact of Native representation and Native-led content, and while we recognize that there’s still progress to be made, this year’s...
- 1/8/2024
- by Rebecca Sun
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Management and production company 2Am is bolstering its finance and sales division with the hire of former Sundance Catalyst executive Julia Nelson.
Nelson will report to former WME & Endeavor Content exec Christine D’Souza Gelb who oversees the sales arm of 2Am.
2Am will be launching sales on two titles at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival: Sam and Andy Zuchero’s Love Me starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, and produced by 2Am, ShivHans, and AgX; and Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s Tendaberry, produced by Dweck and Flies Collective. 2Am is co-repping worldwide rights on both projects with WME, where the filmmakers are also represented.
The company, which is a producer on Celine Song’s Golden Globe nominee Past Lives, has previously repped Sing J. Lee’s Accidental Getaway Driver, Andrew Semans’ Resurrection, and Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was A Simple Man.
Nelson joins the company after six years at...
Nelson will report to former WME & Endeavor Content exec Christine D’Souza Gelb who oversees the sales arm of 2Am.
2Am will be launching sales on two titles at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival: Sam and Andy Zuchero’s Love Me starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, and produced by 2Am, ShivHans, and AgX; and Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s Tendaberry, produced by Dweck and Flies Collective. 2Am is co-repping worldwide rights on both projects with WME, where the filmmakers are also represented.
The company, which is a producer on Celine Song’s Golden Globe nominee Past Lives, has previously repped Sing J. Lee’s Accidental Getaway Driver, Andrew Semans’ Resurrection, and Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was A Simple Man.
Nelson joins the company after six years at...
- 12/15/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman and Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
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